Epilogue
Ariella
Ikar had helped Caridan with his shift back into human form, and immediately we went to work on his wounds. We’d been hiding in secret for days now, with the Koth still seeking its revenge for the deaths we’d caused.
The white dragon had been every bit as noble as a leader should be in dealing with us, and I babbled my thanks to him incessantly during Caridan’s surgery. The blood loss had been intense, and with such a small staff of nurses sworn to secrecy, I wondered more than once if he was going to make it.
We talked together as I shared his hospital bed and we looked out the window every night wondering what would become of us, of our unintended love and our small child that we had created together.
Ikar gave little insight as to what would happen next or what his great plan would be. I’d started a private joke between Caridan and me that Ikar had no actual plan and that he would be seeking his revenge by making the two of us be his personal slaves for the next year, or as long as he could push his luck.
My theory was proven wrong, however, when the morning Caridan was able to stand on his own, Ikar was rushing us away from Udora and down to a secluded spaceport in the Northern Mountains.
We hadn’t spoken of Targeg since the great battle. My heart had broken that night right alongside my love’s, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. I knew Caridan was hurt. I knew he felt guilty. There was no point in me telling him he did what had to be done or to remind him of how much Targeg loved him.
If we never said it, I thought, then it didn’t have to be true. There would be no timeline of before and after. Instead, we could still think of Targeg alive somewhere, and there would be no moments to compare or look back on to try and remember him. Instead, he would be off somewhere being his jovial self.
We walked down the hall of the miniscule spaceport, Caridan’s arm wrapped around my shoulder for support, and suddenly I heard a voice I hadn’t thought of in months.
“How did I know you two were going to give me trouble?” came the familiar low tones of Zaphira Reneau, my program coordinator.
The woman tucked a lock of her short brown hair behind her ear and raised her brow from beneath her blunt-cut bangs. She walked toward us, her clicking heels taking their time as though we weren’t standing on the edge of a precipice. We stared down the hallway in shock. Caridan looked on with hesitation and suspicion, as was his way, but I ran to her as a child would to its mother, wrapping my arms around her desperately.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
Caridan and I looked to one another in surprise, and my heart suddenly found a steady beat once more.
“Saving you, apparently.”
“Who… who told you?” I asked.
She gave a chuckle and began ushering us down the hall toward the ramp of the shuttle that was waiting nearby. “Meg,” she said quietly.
“Here I thought I was in her bad books.”
“So that means she’s alive?” Caridan asked suddenly. A look of relief washed over his face.
“Alive and well,” Zaphira confirmed. “Which I almost couldn’t say for you, Caridan.” She eyed his bruises and bandages up and down just once, and a terse smile crossed her lips. “Making friends like always, I see.”
“What did she say?” I insisted.
“She called me as soon as you told her your… predicament. She seemed to think you were in danger, and low and behold, she was right.”
“She’s always been pretty good at evaluating a risky situation.”
“I wouldn’t give her too much credit.” Zaphira raised her brow and turned to me, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “I think the dead dragons may also have been a tip off.”
“Always keeping things classy,” Caridan said with annoyance.
We reached the front of the ship, and she opened the door as if we were to get in with no questions asked. I made my way into the shuttle, but Caridan wouldn’t budge from the entry ramp.
“Where are we going?” he asked. “Earth?”
She shook her head and tapped her heel against the cement below. “Not that lucky, I’m afraid. You’re heading to a new planet some distance from here. We want you safe and hidden. We’ve been working on cultivating this planet for some time now, but it’s been a highly classified project.”
Zaphira gave pause and looked to Caridan. There was an energy between them, but I couldn’t fathom what was behind it or what they had shared together.
“The good news is that my research team will meet you there,” she continued. “It’s a small unit working there, but you won’t be alone. The bad news is you’ll be working for me from now on.” She gave an honest laugh and looked between us. “But you’ll be well hidden, that’s for sure.”
“That sounds perfect,” I said breathlessly, looking over my shoulder at Caridan to catch his approval.
“Well, it’d better be, because at this point it’s more like a permanent vacation rather than a romantic getaway. You guys do this…” Zaphira looked to Caridan, her eyes conveying the gravity of her words. “You do this, and there’s no going back. Not unless you’re happy without a head.”
“Can’t say that’d be a good look for me,” Caridan said, raising his brow smugly.
“Imagine that,” Zaphira said with a smug smile and she ushered him into the ship. Caridan stepped forward, but something seemed to pull him back.
I took his hand to welcome him onto the ship, but he was immovable as he stood in the entryway to the shuttle. I walked up beside him, and we both stared out at Udora and her beautiful mountainous spires with their snowcapped peaks and the moss that seemed to creep over the earth and fill the air with the most beautiful scent. I’d come to love this planet, too.
He stared into the distance and then up at the vast sky. Then he closed his eyes, and I knew he’d said his goodbyes.
Finally, he stepped into the shuttle, and the doors closed briskly behind us. Within mere minutes, we were already in the air. We took our seats in a common lounge and stared out the immense blackness of stars and space that was now visible out the window.
Our time on Udora was brief, and I hadn’t gotten to finish my work, but in truth, I was glad to leave it all behind. I couldn’t think of a better life to start, or a better person to start it with than the man at my side. It turned out I was about to get it all. A beautiful new planet to research, a child made from love, and my perfect partner – the shifter who had chosen me against my will and made me fall hopelessly in love with him.
I looked up at him in the soft, still moment and he traced his fingers down my nose and lips. This ship was much smaller than the one I’d arrived on, but it was filled with so much more love.
“Here we are again,” I said with a smile.
“Here we are again.”
“You, me, a spaceship.” I stared out the window and then back to my love.
“Ah, but there’s three of us this time,” he said as he glanced down at my small, protruding belly. He set his hands on me and placed his thumb over my chin, taking my face into his hand. He closed his eyes and kissed me softly.
When our lips parted, I backed away to get a better look at him and offered up a wry grin as I said, “Anything you can think to do to pass the time?”
He grinned. “I have a few ideas.”